


Grandpa Karga

by f0rever15elf



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Food mention, Other, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27803272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/f0rever15elf/pseuds/f0rever15elf
Summary: Din is tired. Din needs a nap. Din gets a nap, and Karga is the babysitter.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 120





	Grandpa Karga

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 12 has inspired me. I busted this out in like an hour because it has been in my brain all night and I NEEDED it to be on paper, so to speak. I have 0 regrets

Life as a bounty hunter is exhausting. Life as a single father is exhausting. Life as a bounty hunter single father is so exhausting that there doesn’t currently exist a word to describe just how badly Din Djarin wants to take a nap at this very moment. He sits in the captain’s chair, teetering on the edge of consciousness with the child in his lap as the stars streak by outside the transparisteel. But every moment he finds himself on that cusp of sleep, the child squeaks or cries or smacks his helmet to get his attention. When was the last time he got more than ten minutes of sleep? Din really can’t remember, but he knows he needs to do something about this. He needs some sleep, or else his functionality as a warrior and as a father is going to rapidly diminish.

“Hey kid,” he rasps through the modulator. The child coos, tilting his head up to look at his father with perked ears. “How about we swing back by Nevarro? You wanna see Cara and Karga again?” The child coos with a little more excitement this time. He likes Nevarro. Nevarro has the cookies he likes. Maybe he can get more cookies. Din reaches around the child, typing in the coordinates for the planet before settling back into his seat to watch the child play with his mythosaur necklace. Maybe he will finally be able to get a nap in if Cara and Karga will entertain the little womp rat.

Din drops from hyperspace just outside the atmosphere of Nevarro, navigating towards the town where Karga manages as magistrate, and as the small town finally comes into view, the Mandalorian feels himself relaxing even as the child grows restless in the co-captain’s chair. As per usual, his friends wait for him near his landing point, smiling in greeting.

“Good to see you brought her back in one piece this time. The bay door actually opens all the way!” Cara pokes fun at her friend the moment she sees him descend the ramp, child in his arm. Din scoffs, reaching out to shake her hand in a friendly greeting.

“Haha,” Din chides before turning to offer Karga the same greeting.

“Mando! Welcome back! Sooner than I expected, if I’m being honest. And how is this little one!” Karga reaches for the child, carefully taking him from Din’s grasp with an excited smile. “Is Mando feeding you well? Are you behaving? Yeah?” The baby babbles something unintelligible and Karga grins at Din. “Did you hear that? He said yeah!” Din lets out an amused huff, hands perched on his hips as he watches Karga chatter to the child, all but forgetting the Mando and ex-shock trooper standing right next to him.

“So what brings you back to our side of the Outer Rim?” Cara finally asks, following after Karga as he begins heading into town, still prattling away to the child who at least looks to be interested in what he’s being told, though there is no way of knowing just how much he understands.

“Something rather mundane, for once.”

“That’s a shock.”

“I need you two to watch the kid for a few hours at least.”

“You know that’s not a problem, we can take care of the little guy. But why? What happened to ‘wherever I go, he goes?’” Beneath his helmet, Din arches an eyebrow at Cara’s attempt at a good humored impersonation, far too exhausted to find the humor in her words.

“I’m exhausted and need to sleep. It’s hard to do that when you have a child banging on your helmet every five minutes demanding more food.” Cara gives Din a look before very nearly doubling over with laughter. Din just crosses his arms, staring at her until she rights herself, wiping tears from her eyes.

“The most renowned bounty hunter in the galaxy is asking for a babysitter so he can take a nap. Maker, how things change.” She ends her comment with a laugh, crossing her arms.

“Are you done?”

“I’m sure I’ll be laughing about this all day, but for now, yeah. C’mon, I’ll set you up at my place so you don’t have to deal with renting a room. I don’t think you need to worry about keeping the kid entertained.” Din follows Cara’s glance, finding Karga standing at a vendor with the child who is making grabby hands at a stuffed tonton. He lets out a sigh, knowing full well the kid would be spoiled rotten after he comes to pick him up, but at the moment he can’t be bothered. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t go too crazy with the kid. C’mon.” Cara turns, heading off towards her home, the exhausted Mandalorian following along after.

The marshal’s place is small, but cozy, and exactly what Din expected from someone like Cara Dune. “Take the bed. Windows are sealed up so no need to worry about peeping toms. You can take your helmet off. I’ll wait for your call before I come to find you, so you won’t need to worry about me walking in on you helmetless.” Din takes a seat on the bed and nods wearily, his body slumping at the chance to finally rest and for a moment Cara feels for him. “Pleasant dreams, Mando.” She nods before making her way out, locking the door behind her.

After a few moments, and almost falling asleep sitting up, Din detaches his breastplate and pauldrons before slowly removing his helmet. He runs a hand through his messy brown hair before laying back on the bed. Within seconds of his head hitting the pillow, Din slips off to sleep, snores the only sound in the little hut.

Back in the marketplace, Karga is having the time of his life carting the child around to the different vendors. The child has never seen such wonderful things, and several times Greef has had to walk back to a stall to return an item that the child has used his ‘magic hand thing’ to pilfer in passing. When they finally make it to a little stand selling sweets, the baby grows restless, wriggling around in Greef’s arms.

“Kid, what’s the matter? What’s wrong?” His brow pinches in concern before he sets the child down, following as he waddles up to the display case of all the goodies. The child’s eyes light up when he sees what he’s been looking for. Beautiful, round, blue cookies piled high on a tray just _waiting_ for him. He presses his tiny green face against the glass before looking up to Greef and tilting his head with a coo. “What’s that you see there kiddo?” Greef crouches down, looking to see what the baby has decided he wanted and smiles at the realization. “You had some of these last time you were here, right? Well, I’m the one taking care of you today, so even if Mando doesn’t want you having these, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Karga hoists the baby up again, resting him on his hip as he orders two dozen of the sweet treats. “Some for the road, of course.” He smiles, offering a thank you to the vendor before heading back out into the bazaar.

The child has little idea of what exactly patience is, reaching out for the foil package that he knows contains his spoils. “Easy there kid, we’re going to a place to sit and eat some of these!” The child’s ears droop in momentary disappointment. That is, until he sees the other school kids running around in a play area with all sorts of things to climb on.

Ever since Mando had helped to flush out the remains of the Empire on Nevarro, the planet had become incredibly peaceful. While at one point the mere _thought_ of having a playground for the children would have caused any local mother to blanch, now they openly support it, chipping in funds to have continuous improvements for their children. “Here we are,” Karga says, taking a seat on a bench facing the park before setting the child next to him. He tears into the package, handing a cookie to the child who eagerly begins munching away, getting blue crumbs everywhere. The gentle magistrate chuckles, brushing the crumbs away before handing him a second cookie then taking one for himself.

Once the child finishes munching, he watches the other kids with curious eyes, continually tilting his head back and forth as they play. “Do you wanna go and join them?” The child looks up to his current babysitter, tilts his head, then coos as he points to the playground and Karga laughs. “Well, let’s go then!” He helps the child to the ground, following him as he waddles to go play with the kids. What he wouldn’t give to have his holorecorder with him right now.

It doesn’t take long for the child to tucker out, sitting down on the ground as his ears droop and he rubs his eyes. “Well, it seems like Mando isn’t the only one who needs a nap! Come on kid, let’s go wait for him at the office.” Karga carefully picks up the child, cradling him to his side with a smile as he heads back towards the building deemed the town hall. It isn’t much, but it worked when he needed to be at a desk to sign things. On the way, the two pass another vendor selling soft stuffed creatures and the child coos, reaching out. “Hm?” Greef looks down to see drooped ears and a sad face, and how in Maker’s name could he say no to that?

“Tell you what, kid. Pick out whichever one you like. I’ll buy you one.” The child’s ears perk up a bit at that, curious brown eyes looking over each stuffed creature before settling on a stuffed loth-wolf only slightly smaller than he is. “That the one you want?” The child’s incessant grabby hands are all the confirmation Karga needs, quickly handing over the credits before handing the toy to the child. He coos happily, holding tight to the soft toy and Karga feels overcome with a warmth at the sight. “Well now, I think it’s a perfect time for a nap, don’t you think?” The child coos again, quite obviously tired as he snuggles the toy against Greef’s side.

The pair eventually make it back to the town hall, slipping inside and over to his desk. He rolls his chair back just enough to prop his feet up on the desk as he reclines in his chair, resting the child and his new toy on his chest. With both hands resting on the child’s back, the little green creature quickly drifts off to sleep, followed not long after by Greef himself.

~~~

Din and Cara stand in front of the desk, arms crossed as they watch the town magistrate snooze with the child on his chest. “Every time I try to do that, he smacks my helmet,” Din grumbles under his breath.

“Maybe it’s because you didn’t stuff him full of cookies before you tried that.” Cara points to the half-eaten package of cookies on the desk.

“ _Dank farrik,”_ Din swears under his breath before sighing. “Last time he had those, he spit up all over his robe.”

Cara chuckles, shaking her head before smiling as the child’s ear twitches, his eyes slowly opening. He pushes off of Greef’s chest, head tilting with a coo when he sees Din standing there. The sound and movement is enough to rouse the magistrate from his own sleep and he groggily sits up, still holding the child.

“Ah, Mando, you made it back!” Karga lets out a loud yawn, which the child echoes in a much tinier fashion before he stands, walking around his desk. Din’s hands extend for the child automatically, and Karga is hesitant to hand over the child, stroking his ear gently before handing him over. “We had quite the day. We ate cookies and went to play at the park and got a new loth-wolf toy! We had a great time, didn’t we kid?” The child coos and giggles, still holding tight to his new tow, giving his sitter what looks to be a smile.

“Thanks for watching him,” Din states simply. “I needed a few hours to get back on my game before we head off again.”

“Of course! Any time you want to bring this little womp rat by, I’d be happy to watch him. I’ll have my holorecorder next time.” Din flashes his friend a confused look from beneath the visor before shaking his head.

“Alright gramps, I think we need to let these two get back on their way,” Cara intervenes, much to Din’s relief.

“Right, of course! Important things to see and do in this big ol’ galaxy!” Karga follows the two out, rambling on about what he would like to do with the child next time Din visits, and the adults are so distracted by some of his ideas that none of them notice the child reaching over Din’s shoulder, focusing as hard as his little body can. Behind the motley crew floats the tin package of cookies, not to be forgotten.

“Do me a favor, Mando,” Karga asks as they make it to the bay door. Din inclines his head in acknowledgment. “Send me a holo of the kid from time to time, yeah? We miss the little guy around here.”

“I’ll do what I can. Thank you both again for your help.”

“Any time,” Cara smiles, resting her hand on Karga’s shoulder. She had seen the little menace pluck the cookies from the air after levitating them to him, but she would let Din discover that little surprise on his own.

“Stay safe,” Greef insists as Din nods, making his way back up the ramp.

“You as well,” he calls back over his shoulder before the bay door slowly closes. It doesn’t take long for him to get the Crest airborne again, Din’s friends watching from the ground as their Mandalorian and his little green son head off for their next adventure.

In the cockpit, Din has set the child and his new toy in the co-captains chair before settling in to set up the next round of coordinates. It’s only when he hears the crinkling of foil that he turns around again. “What you got ther-” he cuts himself off with a sigh when he sees those blue cookies in the child’s hands, a smile on his face as he sits beside his loth-cat. “You’re a spoiled little thing. Don’t eat too many of those.” The child babbles and munches happily on his cookies and Din can’t help but smile under his helmet. It’s good to know that someone else cares about the child as much as he does. In this, he could find solace. 


End file.
